HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said that about one million people missed the deadline to complete their file tax returns and will now have to pay fines.
The UK’s tax office claimed that 27,456 persons filed their taxes in the last hour before the deadline for 2024-25 returns, which was midnight on Saturday.
The busiest hour for persons filing online self-assessment was from 17:00 GMT on Saturday, after HMRC helplines stayed open and webchat services were extended over the weekend.
On the last day, around 475,722 people filed out of a total of about 11.5 million submissions. Anyone who missed the deadline will automatically have to pay £100. “Thank you to the millions of people and agents who filed their self-assessment tax return and paid any taxes owed by 31 January.” Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s chief customer officer, stated, “Anyone who missed the deadline should file their return as soon as possible, as penalties and late payment interest may be charged.”
PAYE (pay-as-you-earn) automatically takes taxes out of the pay cheques of millions of workers. However, persons with more than one source of income may need to do a self-assessment every year.
They included people who made more than £1,000 in the 2024–25 financial year from self-employment or renting out a property or land.
Some people who didn’t have to register this time are those who make more than £150,000, which was the only reason they had to file before, or those who have moved to paying the high income child benefit charge through PAYE.
A year ago, about the same number of people missed the deadline. Anyone who does this will incur the following penalties:
- A first fine of £100, even if there is no tax to pay or if the tax is paid on time
- After three months, there may also be extra daily fines of £10, up to a total of £900.
- After six months, there can be another penalty of 5% of the tax owed or £300, whichever is more. After a year, there may be another fee of 5% or £300, whichever is higher.
- There are also extra fees for late payments: 5% of the unpaid tax after 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months.
- If you don’t pay your taxes by the due date, you may have to pay interest on the amount you owe.
HMRC, which collects tens of millions of pounds in penalties every year, will look at why you missed the deadline. People who have a good reason may not have to pay a fine.
Tax professionals say that anyone who is appealing should still pay the first fine.Charlene Young, a senior pensions and savings adviser at the financial platform AJ Bell, said, “It costs money, but if you lose your appeal, you won’t have to pay interest on the penalty itself from the date it became due.”You might still be able to set up a payment plan to get back on track if you don’t have a good reason to appeal a fine but still owe money. You need to be aware of what’s going on.